Blaizing Academy

I had a terrible experience and would not recommend the EFA online school.  I don't know anything about the in-person school, but I have heard some of the on-line instructors have moved to in-person learning, so I would expect a similar experience there.  If you look at their instructor profiles on their website:  https://elevenfifty.org/about/our-team/ , they are all recent EFA grads with no experience in teaching or coding.  As far as the executive staff...ignore them, because they will most certainly ignore you.  One of the Senior Instructor's profile starts with "I attended EFA as a student with no coding background...then became an instructor with EFA."  The instructor for 2/3 of my school was not, and still is not listed on their website and looked like he was teaching from his mom's basement.  We were constantly dealing with barking dogs, crying kids and his computer issues.  My biggest complaint is that they don't provide you the material or the instruction to learn, they give you topics and you are expected to go out and find sources to learn.   They use a "watch me code" approach to teaching, but the instructors don't explain what they are doing, and the examples they use were made up and the "Apps" they created had no functionality.   During the entire bootcamp they never showed how to create and deploy a real webpage or app.  EFA works hard to get funding so your school will be free, and they treat you like a freeloader.  Only 4 of the original 30 students graduated, and each new section of our school was backfilled with people who failed out of previous classes.  The graduation and hire statistics on their websites are not accurate, not even close.  During my bootcamp there were 22 instructor led classes and 34 lab classes with no instruction, 2/3 of the 24 week school only had 8 instructor led classes, 4 hours each.  As far as a Portfolio...it was never mentioned again after the first section (1/3) of the school was completed, which only glossed over HTML, CSS and JavaScript.   After the Bootcamp the staff initially responded to my emailed questions, but never followed up with responses and I have never heard from them since.  Other students didn't even get a response at all.   The only job placement they help with is hiring learning assistants for EFA.   I purchased a Udemy React course from Academind and learned React in 3 weeks, save yourself a ton of frustration and bypass EFA, you'll end up buying a Udemy course anyway!  

When our world changed drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the catalyst for me to pursue my passion and rethink my career. I enrolled in the Eleven Fifty Academy to hone in on my web development skills, and thanks to the skills I learned in the course and the amazing career services team, within less than three months after graduation, I landed an amazing job in the tech field! 

I truly can't say enough positive things about Eleven Fifty Academy. The course instructors were incredible. The course work was relevant and challenging, and the instructors often made time outside of class hours to assist with questions and help troubleshoot. I sincerely feel that the web development course prepared me with the skills necessary for me to enter a brand new career in tech. After graduation, the support from career services was integral to my new career. Not only did they offer resume assistance, but the preparation and job lead connections they provided were above and beyond. 

I would recommend Eleven Fifty Academy to any one who is interested in a career in tech regardless of age or ability. Looking back, the only advice I would give myself would be to enroll sooner!

I have attended EFA's Python course back in September of 2019. At that point, I was very skeptical of boot camps. I have done a large amount of research and landed between Flatiron or this. I'm glad that I stuck with EFA.

The best part about the academy comes from its instructors. At first, I was concerned that I will be taught by someone who graduated the Academy itself. My concerns quickly vanished when I realized the level of tech acumen the instructors held. Majority of them are prior graduates who have worked as engineers and decided to then teach others. The whole time you're here, you're surrounded by very smart and knowledgeable staff who cares deeply about your success. The curriculum is solid and ever improving. The technologies being taught are current and constantly updated to reflect what's desirable in the workforce. This results in me getting my first tech job in just two months out of school.

The foundations I have been taught also allowed me to quickly pick up additional languages and frameworks which were required of me on the job.

Highly recommend. My only regret is not doing it nowadays when their Finance team has so many wonderful options that can often cover your entire cost of tuition. Tremendous value.

 I attended Eleven Fifty Academy part time and graduated in February 2021. The Hero's Care Act covered most of the tuition, allowing me to attend the web development course. The course was remote due to the pandemic, so it can be a bit challenging working remotely. This has been one of the best decisions of my life and I now have a contract position as  a web developer/web designer for a digital marketing company. This Bootcamp is very intense and not easy but it is worth it, especially if you want to change careers and get into the tech industry. Getting a job after graduating can be draining and stressful, some people get a job right away other's like myself took about 3months to land a position. The career coaches help you look for positions but I encourage you to apply and look for yourself also. 

This was a great experience for me. I transitioned from the real estate industry into tech and Eleven Fifty Academy was a great option to help prepare me. Beware, the curriculum is fast-paced as it packs a lot of knowledge is a short period of time! My instructor was a great teacher and was very knowledgeable. They even assisted me on some portions of my project that were outside of the scope for the class. The entire company is definitely focusing on continuous learning. I am know a Learning Assistant for EFA on top of landing another position as a software engineer! 

Got to go FOR FREE because of the cares act! The whole staff and environment of Eleven Fifty was really great. If you put the work in these courses will definitely pay off. The career assistance did a really great job of reaching out to me and keeping me on track(which I appreciate because I'm the most unorganized person ever) The instructors are very sweet and encouraging + the weekly one on one meetings are nice. The TA's are very helpful and active, there are a lot of resources provided by them to get help when you need it outside of class. My only complaint for this course would be that I felt a bit unprepared to tackle technical interview questions, there was some material covering this however I did feel a bit lost trying to navigate more complex algorithms on my own.

It is never too late to start something new!

I had been stuck in a job that paid well but drained my batteries more than it recharged them. That is where I finally learned that passion > paycheck. I decided to take advantage of the cares act and enroll in the 12 week Web Development bootcamp at Eleven Fifty. The one thing I noticed immediately after starting was, this is challenging but in a good way! I was getting challenged in ways that my previous jobs had never challenged me before. It was exciting!

After a few weeks into the program, it was very evident that the instructors genuinely cared about your development and you as a person. Every instructor made a conscious effort to listen and engage with the students and learn a little more about them each day. 

If you put in the effort and work, you will gain great things out of this boot camp. I would 100% recommend this boot camp to anyone looking to change careers and challenge themselves to learn something new and better themselves every day!